The Ministry of Health and Welfare introduced a new reimbursement system called the Eligibility Management System in Medical Aid in July 2007. The operation of this system is interlocked with patient care programs of medical institutions. The new system was expected to realize effective management of the eligibility of beneficiaries by interactive communications between medical institutions and the National Health Insurance Corporation (NHIC) and thereby improve financial stabilization of the reimbursement system and optimize healthcare practices by preventing moral hazards in the relationship between beneficiaries and medical institutions. For the effective operation of this system, however, several drawbacks need to be resolved; firstly, one can currently use the system only through the internet, secondly, there is a legal issue that medical institutions are the subject of the management of eligibility, and lastly, healthcare information needs to be transferred to NHIC in a real-time manner. Particularly the last one needs a special attention because it can raise critical concerns of potential violation of human rights of patients and unnecessary regulations of medical practices.
Delivery of Health Care ; Human Rights ; Humans ; Internet ; National Health Programs ; Patient Care ; Social Control, Formal

No abstract available.
Allografts* ; Kidney Transplantation* ; Kidney*

Lymphomatous involvement of the gallbladder is rarely identified and manifests mostly as a local involvement of disseminated disease. There have been reported only about 20 primary malignant lymphomas of the gallbladder without involvement of other sites. A 63-year-old woman presented with jaundice, epigastric pain, and weight olss of two months duration. There was no systemic lymphadenopathy elsewhere. Abdominal computed tomograph revealed a focal thickening of the gallbladder wall. The removed gallbladder contained a well circumscribed, 5x3 cm-sized, slightly elevated firm area with accentuated mucosal papillary excrescences near the neck protion. The lesion involved whole thickness of the wall, and was made up of diffuse atypical lymphoid cell infiltrates of variable size accompanying plasmacytoid differentiation in areas. Some large tumor cells were pleomorphic and contained prominent nucleoli. To our knowledge, this is the first case of primary malignant lymphoma of the gallbladder in Korean literature.
Female ; Humans

No abstract available.
Transplantation*

Primary fallopian tube carcinoma is a very rare gynecologic malignacy, occurring during the fifth or sixthdecade of postmenopausal women. The most common histological type is adenocarcinoma; squamous carcinoma, sarcoma,mixed mullerian tumors, and choriocarcinoma, for example, are exceedingly rare. The author reports one case eachof adenocarcinoma and choriocarcinoma of the fallopian tube both were demonstrated by US, CT, and MRI.
Adenocarcinoma ; Carcinoma, Papillary* ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Choriocarcinoma ; Fallopian Tubes* ; Female ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Pregnancy

No abstract available.
Animals ; Cricetinae* ; Mice*

No abstract available.
Syringomyelia*

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to elucidate the anatomical development of physiologic suture closure processes in infants using three dimensional reconstructed computed tomography (CT). METHODS: A consecutive series of 243 infants under 12 months of age who underwent three dimensional CT were included in this study. Four major cranial sutures (sagittal, coronal, lambdoidal and metopic suture) were classified into four suture closure grades (grade 0=no closure along the whole length, grade 1=partial or intermittent closure, grade 2=complete closure with visible suture line, grade 3=complete fusion (ossification) without visible suture line), and measured for its closure degree (suture closure rates; defined as percentage of the length of closed suture line divided by the total length of suture line). RESULTS: Suture closure grade under 12 months of age comprised of grade 0 (n=195, 80.2%), grade 1 (n=24, 9.9%) and grade 2 (n=24, 9.9%) in sagittal sutures, whereas in metopic sutures they were grade 0 (n=61, 25.1%), grade 1 (n=167, 68.7%), grade 2 (n=6, 24%) and grade 3 (n=9, 3.7%). Mean suture closure rates under 12 months of age was 58.8% in metopic sutures, followed by coronal (right : 43.8%, left : 41.1%), lambdoidal (right : 27.2%, left : 25.6%) and sagittal sutures (15.6%), respectively. CONCLUSION: These quantitative descriptions of cranial suture closure may help understand the process involved in the cranial development of Korean infants.
Cranial Sutures ; Growth and Development ; Humans ; Infant ; Sutures

The effects of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1, 2, 3, 6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) on movement and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-immunoreactive (ir) neuronal changes in young (5~6 weeks) and aged (10~12 months) C57BL/6 mice were studied. Locomotor activity was measured during 180 minutes after a single injection of 30 mg/kg of MPTP. For immunohistochemistry both young and aged mice were injected four repeated dosages of 10 mg/kg of MPTP 12 hours apart. We counted the numbers of TH-ir cell bodies using immunohistochemical technique in substantia nigra (SN), ventral tegmental area (VTA) and locus ceruleus (LC) 7 days after the last injection of MPTP. There was a marked decrease of locomotor activity in MPTP-treated young and aged mice, and a delay in recovery of locomotor activity in MPTP-treated aged mice. In young mice, there was a decrease in the number of TH-ir cell bodies in the SN of young mice, but not in VTA or LC. In aged mice, there was a significant decrease in the number of TH-ir cell bodies in VTA as well as SN. It was concluded that aged mice were more sensitive to MPTP than young mice, and MPTP-treated aged mice a more useful animal model for studing the characteristics of Parkinson's disease.
1-Methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine* ; Aging* ; Animals ; Immunohistochemistry ; Locus Coeruleus ; Mice* ; Models, Animal ; Motor Activity ; Neurons* ; Parkinson Disease ; Substantia Nigra ; Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase ; Ventral Tegmental Area

Synthetic hydroxyapatite is a safe, nontoxic, biocompatible, and osteoconductive material. Hydroxyapatite-coated implants have the property of achieving a very strong bond with living bone in a relatively short period. From March 1992 to June 1994, 140 hydroxyapatite-coated primary total hip prostheses were implanted. This study included 60 cases that could follow up minimum 3 years. At the time of mean follow up, 45 months after operation, the mean Harris hip score was 92 points. Only two patients complained of thigh pain at last follow up. On radiographic evaluation, radiolucent lines were seen around the uncoated distal part of the stem in 46 percents of the implants. No radiolucent line was observed around the coated area of the prosthesis. Cancellous condensation was seen in 95 per cents of the implants at the Gruen zone 2 and 6 area. Cortical hypertrophy was present in 32 percents. Fourteen cases had the gaps at the bone to acetabular cup interface in the immediate postoperative period. The gaps disappeared in 12 months after operation. Five implants were revised because of polyethylene wear, cup migration and periprosthetic fracture. The clinical outcome was excellent. But this result was obtained in the relatively short-term follow up. Longer-term data will be the only true test of the value of hydroxyapatite coated implant.
Acetabulum ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip ; Durapatite* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hip Prosthesis* ; Hip* ; Humans ; Hypertrophy ; Periprosthetic Fractures ; Polyethylene ; Postoperative Period ; Prostheses and Implants ; Thigh